See who’s who in the TSE, which will judge Bolsonaro – 06/20/2023 – Politics

Former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) will be judged this Thursday (22) by a composition of the TSE (Superior Electoral Court) considered, for the most part, not sympathetic to the former president.

The magistrates will decide whether the former president should be ineligible for calling a meeting with foreign ambassadors, months before the elections, to discredit the Brazilian electoral system without presenting evidence to that effect.

The assessment of ministers and lawyers behind the scenes is that the last two exchanges in court, which had the influence of Minister Alexandre de Moraes, made the scenario even more unfavorable to Bolsonaro.

The court has seven ministers. The president is Moraes, who conducts inquiries against Bolsonaro in the STF (Federal Supreme Court) and has become the main executioner of Bolsonarism in the Judiciary.

The vice-president of the electoral court, Cármen Lúcia, has also given public demonstrations of opposition to the ideas defended by the former head of the Executive. In last year’s election, Bolsonaro even accused her of working to defeat him in the elections and elect President Lula (PT).

The third member of the Supreme Court that makes up the TSE represents Bolsonaro’s best hope of avoiding a legal defeat that would prohibit him from running for elections for the next 8 years.

This is Kassio Nunes Marques, appointed to the STF by the former president and who usually aligns with Bolsonarist agendas in important trials.

In addition to the three, the court is composed of two other ministers of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice). One of them is the rapporteur for the process, Minister Benedito Gonçalves, who maintains a close relationship with Lula and other members of the PT. He works behind the scenes to be nominated for a seat on the STF.

Raul Araújo is the other from the second most important court in the country. He is touted behind the scenes as another name most likely to go against Bolsonaro’s declaration of ineligibility.

Despite being appointed to the STJ by Lula in 2010, he has a more conservative profile and, in private conversations, he usually says that he does not see the former president as a threat to democracy, as other judges tend to say.

In the 2022 election, he was involved in a controversy by accepting an action brought by the PL to ban political demonstrations at the Lollapalooza music festival. The decision was given after singer Pabllo Vittar raised a Lula flag during her show at the event.

Soon after, in the face of criticism, he revoked his own decision. In last year’s election, he also ordered the removal from the internet of videos in which Lula called Bolsonaro “genocidal”.

The other two ministers who complete the court come from advocacy. The appointment of Floriano Marques and André Tavares at the end of May was seen, behind the scenes, as an important factor in reducing Bolsonaro’s chances of winning a trial victory.

Alexandre de Moraes was the great guarantor of the two nominations made by Lula and it is unlikely that both will give divergent votes in relation to the member of the Supreme Court.

The two took over the seats previously occupied by Carlos Horbach and Sergio Banhos. The first had an alignment with Bolsonaro and could be a vote in favor of the former president.

In the 2022 trial in which former state deputy Fernando Francischini was impeached for spreading fake news against electronic voting machines, for example, he was the only one to vote to maintain the politician’s mandate.

He could still be re-elected for a new two-year term on the electoral court, but withdrew due to Moraes’ articulations against his name and the reduced chances he had because he was not well regarded by the PT.

Baths, in turn, could not go on to a new term on the court. Tradition, however, determined that the substitute minister of the oldest class of jurists, currently Maria Claudia Bucchianeri, would ascend to the title.

However, she also has a more independent profile and, for this reason, Moraes preferred to make an articulation with the government by indicating a name linked to him. The minister was successful. Despite pressure from the female congressional group and PT militancy, Lula rejected the choice of a woman in favor of Moraes’ ally.

The seven TSE ministers will judge the action filed by the PDT that accuses Bolsonaro of having committed abuse of power and misuse of the media at the meeting with ambassadors in July last year, broadcast on TV Brasil.

The voting order will be as follows: it starts with the two from the STJ, Gonçalves and Araújo; then Marques and Azevedo; finally, the members of the STF, Cármen Lúcia, Kassio and Moraes.

A first unfavorable sign for Bolsonaro has already been given. The Electoral Attorney General presented an opinion for the partial validity of the action in order to declare the former president ineligible.

The body claims that Bolsonaro gave distorted and untrue statements to representatives of other countries and that this may have influenced part of the electorate to distrust electronic voting machines.

In addition, the court has already given indications that it will not restrict itself to the debate on the meeting with ambassadors and that it will read the entire context of Bolsonaro’s attacks against the electoral system.

This was clear in the decision of the rapporteur, Benedito Gonçalves, endorsed by the majority, to accept the inclusion in the case file of the draft of the coup found in the house of former Minister of Justice Anderson Torres.

The magistrate has pointed out that the case is necessary for “elements that are intended to demonstrate developments of the facts originally narrated [na ação]” and that point out the seriousness of Bolsonaro’s conduct. It also cites “circumstances relevant to the context of the facts, revealed in other police, investigative or judicial procedures or, even, that are public and notorious knowledge “.

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WHO IS WHO

Alexandre de Moraes
Rapporteur of inquiries in the STF that have Bolsonaro as a target, he became the main executioner of the former representative in the Brazilian Judiciary. Doctor in law from USP and professor at the institution, he was appointed to the Supreme by former President Michel Temer (MDB) in 2017. Before, he was Minister of Justice, and secretary of both the state and the city of São Paulo. He is president of the TSE and considered as the most influential minister of the electoral court today.

Benedito Gonçalves
Rapporteur of the action that could make Bolsonaro ineligible, he is the general inspector of the Electoral Justice and also a minister of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice). He has been a career judge since 1988. He was appointed to the STF by President Lula in 2008. To this day, he maintains a close relationship with the Chief Executive and other PT leaders. He dreams of being nominated by the PT for the vacancy on the Supreme Court that will open in October with the compulsory retirement of Minister Rosa Weber.

Carmen Lúcia
Master in Law from UFMG, she has been Minister of the Supreme Court since 2006, when she was appointed to the court by President Lula (PT). The second woman to take a seat at the top of the Judiciary in the country’s history, she had the support of then Minister Sepúlveda Pertence to be chosen by the PT. She voted in favor of Lava Jato and against PT interests in several trials. In early 2021, however, she changed her vote to declare former judge Sergio Moro’s partiality in conducting proceedings against Lula.

Cassio Nunes Marques
He was appointed to the STF by Bolsonaro in 2020 and is one of the most loyal men to the former president in the Brazilian Judiciary. Previously, he was a federal judge at the TRF-1 (Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region) and at the TRE-PI (Regional Electoral Court of Piauí). When he was nominated for the Supreme Court, he was campaigning for a seat on the STJ. However, he fell in favor of the former president and was promoted to one of the 11 seats of the most important court in the country. He has a master’s degree from the Autonomous University of Lisbon and a doctorate from the University of Salamanca.

Raul Araujo
Minister of the STJ since 2010, he has been a lawyer, prosecutor, judge and attorney for the state of Ceará. Unlike Benedito, he tends to adopt a more conservative bias in judgments and is closer to the conservative political field. He is seen by Bolsonaro allies as one of the possible votes in favor of the former president in the action that could make him ineligible. In the 2022 elections, he gave the decision that banned political demonstrations by artists at the Lollapalooza music festival after singer Pabllo Vittar raised a flag of the then candidate Lula during the show.

André Ramos Tavares
It occupies one of the seats on the TSE aimed at the class of jurists. He has a master’s and doctorate from PUC-SP and was a member of the Public Ethics Commission of the Presidency between 2018 and 2021. He was appointed substitute minister of the court by Bolsonaro and a titular member of the court by Lula. He is seen as a man of confidence of Minister Alexandre de Moraes and who should follow the same line as the president of the court in the judgment of the former representative.

Floriano Marques
Doctor in Law and former director of the Faculty of Law at USP, he also occupies a chair reserved for lawyers at the TSE. He arrived at court thanks to the support of Alexandre de Moraes, with whom he is a personal friend. There was pressure from the PT’s female wing to nominate a woman for the position, but Lula prioritized the name supported by Moraes. Like Tavares, the assessment is that he should follow the same line as the president of the court in Bolsonaro’s trial.